


Road To Nowhere

by DopeSolo



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-05
Updated: 2013-11-13
Packaged: 2017-12-25 16:15:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/955178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DopeSolo/pseuds/DopeSolo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happens when Kelley shows up out of the blue and demands a road trip? Hell if Hope knows but when it came down to it, she could never really say no to the defender.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Clearly I've taken some liberty as far as the time-space continuum is concerned. Ignore all current, recent and future real-life soccer-related happenings.

The season was over. There were no immediate international camps or games for two months. It was just enough time to have a well-deserved break. A break from soccer. A break from the media and its constant questions and scathing remarks about her failed marriage. Hope was in absolute need of a break from life and it seemed that Kelley was presenting a prime opportunity for it.  
  
“You’re serious?” Hope asked, adjusting herself into a more comfortable position on her couch.  
Kelley nodded enthusiastically. “Why not? I haven’t had any action,” Kelley blushed when Hope raised an eyebrow.  “Any game time,” Kelley amended, “because of that stupid turf and my ankle and I have cabin fever. I need an adventure.”  
“And you expect me to drop everything I’m doing and just go?”  
“Hope,” Kelley grinned, “You’re on your couch with your animals, FaceTiming with me. The only thing you have to drop is the phone itself.”  
Hope glared at her phone screen and looked around her living room. Damn Kelley for being right.  
“When do we leave?”  
“Tomorrow!”  
“Are you flying here?”  
The tan wall Kelley had been leaning against shifted and Hope’s eyes narrowed. The background changed to trees, a lawn and, was that Hope’s car?

  
 _Ding Dong_  
  
Hope climbed off her couch and followed Leo to the door and opened it. There stood Kelley with two pieces of luggage and a backpack along with her trademark beaming smile.  
“What if I’d have said no?” Hope asked, leaning against the doorjamb and crossing her arms. Kelley stuffed her phone in her own pocket and squatted down to pet Leo and rub his face this way and that.  
“I didn’t really consider that,” Kelley replied honestly.   
Hope sighed and grabbed Kelley’s luggage and brought it inside to the living room. Kelley and Leo followed and made themselves comfortable on the floor, still clearly enamored with each other’s affections. Hope sat on her couch and watched the two. Captain Sully perched on her shoulder, observing the two idiots with what seemed to be the same look of judgment.  
“Why are you here anyway? Don’t you belong on the east coast?”  
“I was visiting Alex and Tobin. Then I hotwired a car and hightailed it up here,” Kelley said rolling away from Leo and into a sitting position. The dog plopped on her lap.  
“You rode a bus?”  
“I rode a bus. And a cab.”  
Hope grinned and pulled out her phone again. “How long of a trip is this going to be?”  
Kelley shrugged. “Why?”  
“I figured it’d be nice to let my brother know how long he’s going to be watching the animals.”

 

Hope stood in front of her closet with an empty luggage case behind her. Kelley sat cross legged in the middle of the California King.  
“I don’t know what to pack,” Hope said with a grunt of frustration.  
“Pants. Shorts. Shirts. Swimwear. Sweats. Fancywear. Jacket. Coat.” Kelley listed them off on fingers. “Oh. And underwear. You’ll need those.”  
Hope didn’t bother to respond and instead, much like everything else about this trip to nowhere, grabbed a few articles of clothing that only by sheer coincidence - not because Kelley had in fact been right two times in a row in one day - ended up with a good combination of pants, shorts, shirts, swimwear, sweats, two jackets, a nice dress… and underwear. She threw in a few beanies for good measure. Ha. That’ll show Kelley.  
“Ooo! I brought my beanies too!” Kelley said nodding with approval.  
Damn it.  
An hour later, Hope had a bag packed with clothing, a few accessories and other essentials. The doorbell rang and Kelley scrambled off the bed to the door, Leo close at her heels. Hope’s lips pursed at how easily the dog had abandoned his so-called everlasting love for Hope and the turncoat could now never be more than two feet from Kelley.  
                Hope followed the two out of her room and when she reached the door, Kelley shoved a bag in her hand and pulled out some cash for the delivery driver. Hope peeked into the bag. Chinese. Kelley said goodbye, shut the door and grabbed the bag from Hope. The goalkeeper fell in line behind Leo and the trio wandered into the kitchen. Hope hadn’t even been aware that the younger woman had placed an order for Chinese.  
                If Hope were to read into it, which she wasn’t, she’d have been a little weirded out that Kelley had ordered exactly what Hope liked - even extra egg rolls. They sat at the kitchen table, not bothering with dishing out the food into plates. Instead, they made small talk about everything and nothing. Kelley told Hope of her recent adventures with Tobin and Alex in Portland.   
                “Everyone is such a beer snob,” Kelley said and grabbed some beef from a container next to Hope. Hope angled the box for her and Kelley tossed a piece into her mouth. “I only drink my IPAs if they’re hoppy and are only handcrafted in a local brewery,” she remarked with a snooty tone of voice. “Do you have a cigarette I can have? Oh, you don’t hand roll them? Never mind.” She tossed her chopstick to the plate and walked over to the fridge and retrieved two bottles of water.   
                “Sorry, East Coast, some people know what they like.” Hope reasoned.  
                “It’s annoying.”  
                “It’s Portland.”  
                Kelley nodded, “True,” her eyebrow furrowed as she saw Hope’s knee bouncing up and down.  
                “What’s wrong?”  
                “Nothing.”  
                Kelley raised an eyebrow and handed Hope the bottle. Hope busied herself with the water. Unfortunately, twisting a cap open and taking a pull of water only allowed her the briefest of delays. Kelley hopped back onto her chair, tucking a leg underneath her.  
                Hope cleared her throat. “When does the stupid flight leave?” One would think that with all the traveling she had to do over the year, her fear, no - her aversion to flying would have worn off by now but Hope found herself dreading the flight. It wasn’t so much the being in the air part. It was the taking off and landing. Mostly the landing since that’s when things seemed to always go awry. It didn’t help that CNN spent most of the day focusing on plane crashes throughout history. Slow news day, Hope supposed.   
                Kelley grinned. “Who said anything about a flight?”  
  


The next morning, Hope was going over her house one last time, making sure doors were locked, the animals were fed and watered. She wrote out a few instructions for Marcus who would be stopping by in the late afternoon. Thankfully, he and his family didn’t have any plans and were more than happy to watch over the house and animals for a few weeks.  
                A car honked outside and Hope glanced to Kelley. The younger woman had rearranged her gear to only one piece of luggage and her backpack. She was hugging Leo around the neck and talking to him in some ridiculous voice about being sure she’d bring him back treats and a gift.  
                “He’s a dog, Kell,” Hope deadpanned as she tossed her pen back into a drawer and closed it with her hip. “He doesn’t need presents from wherever we’re going.”  
                “Don’t listen to her handsome boy,” Kelley said and ruffled his head some more. “I’ll bring you back something great.” Hope rolled her eyes and wheeled her luggage to the front door. She pet Leo on the head a few times and he licked her hand, tail wagging.  
                “Later, Leo. Be good,” Hope said, just to placate the shorter woman.   
                “Bye Leo! Bye Cap’n!” Kelley yelled to the cat as it perched on a nearby ledge. It looked at her and hopped off and wandered down a hall.  
                “Sully hates goodbyes. That’s why he stormed off like he did.” Kelley explained and grabbed her luggage and walked out the door. Hope locked it behind her and gave it a tug to ensure it was locked.               
                “Whatever you say, O’Hara.” Hope looked to the driveway and saw two men standing near a van and a black SUV of some sort. Oh. A Jeep Cherokee.  Kelley exchanged pleasantries with the men, signed a piece of paper and was handed two sets of keys. The men put their bags in the back of the car, explained a few features to Kelley and with a handshake, hopped into the van and drove off.   
                Kelley hopped into the driver’s seat and clicked her belt after adjusting the seat to her liking. Hope smirked at how close to the pedals she had to move the seat. Kelley tossed her phone into the middle of the console and drummed on the steering wheel with a grin.   
                “This is going to be way rad. We can stop whenever we want. Do cheesy touristy things wherever we want,” Kelley began and picked up her phone from the middle console, “And,” she tapped a button and held it in front of the two of them. Hope looked to the screen and grinned. “We can document all of it!”          
                Half an hour later, one stop at a Starbucks - much to Hope’s delight -  they were pulling onto Interstate 5 heading south.  Kelley glanced at the GPS screen on the dashboard. She nudged Hope in the side. Hope looked over. “We’re really doing it Harry!”  
                Hope gave a blank look. Kelley’s grin dropped and she held her hands splayed out. Hope shook her head. “We’re really doing it Lloyd? Dumb and Dumber? C’mon!” Kelley exclaimed, dropping her head to the back of the seat and letting out a sigh of exasperation. Hope  shook her head again.  
                “I’ve seen that once, maybe twice in my life.”  
                “What is wrong with you?”  
                Hope elbowed Kelley back. “Sorry. I don’t really watch the same dumb movies over and over again.”  
                “It’s not a dumb movie. Don’t let its title fool you. It’s a fine example in the history of comedic film,” Kelley swatted at Hope. Hope sighed and wondered if she made a mistake agreeing on going on a trip with this idiot. She watched Kelley out of the corner of her eye as the defender glanced over her shoulder and changed lanes. Kelley was practically bouncing in her seat and the girl hadn’t even had more than two sips of coffee. Hope let out a breath and looked to the road ahead of them, a small smile playing at her lips. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad trip after all. It was impossible not to share in Kelley’s excitement.  
                “This is my jam!” Kelley exclaimed and turned the radio up even higher and started singing with Lady Gaga and clapping one hand to a thigh. Hope smiled into her coffee and took a sip. What an idiot. 


	2. Chapter 2

                Hope watched the water pass under them, the late afternoon sunlight bouncing off the small shimmers of light. They were halfway across the bridge and almost to- "Astoria?" Hope asked, glancing at the GPS on the dashboard.  
                "Yeah!" Kelley replied and threw Hope a grin. "Time to play tourist!" She pressed the gas a little harder, clearly eager to get to the small town.  
                "What's so cool about this place?" Hope asked, looking to the horizon for maybe an incredible statue, view, or just something that was different from any other coastal town. So far there wasn't anything she was too impressed with.  
                "Are you kidding me?" Kelley asked flabbergasted. "Astoria! The Goonies! This town is a national treasure!"  
                Hope raised her eyebrow. "They filmed here?"  
                "Yeah! How do you not know that?"  
                "How do you even know about the Goonies?" Hope asked. "Were you even alive in the 80s?"  
                Kelley sniffed and rolled her eyes. "I was."  
                "For what, a year?"  
                "Two, asshole," Kelley said and maneuvered the Jeep from the bridge to a small road. Hope smirked. Kelley followed a few signs that led them to a tourist information center and once it was parked, she hopped out of the driver's seat and stretched. Three and a half hours of driving and she was ready to loosen up. Hope climbed out of the vehicle as well and pulled her jacket on. It was fairly cool and the breeze from the Pacific took away what little heat that the sun, somewhere above the clouds, was trying to shine down.  
                Hope followed Kelley to the small building where a few other families of tourists were milling about. Kelley grabbed a few pamphlets and led Hope to a bench to form a game plan.  
                "Definitely hitting the Goonies house first. Maybe some lunch and ooo!" Kelley pointed to a photo of a beach "Cannon Beach is only 40 minutes away! Can we have lunch there?"  
                Hope shrugged. "You're the boss." Kelley perked up and was about to open her mouth "For the day, I mean." Kelley grinned.  
                "Deal. Let's go! The house is like two miles from here." They got back into the Jeep and after a wrong turn and some backtracking, found the Goonies house. Kelley parked the car and once again the two climbed out. They had to walk for two blocks due to the lack of available parking and once they got there, Kelley let out a fist pump.  
                "We made it, I can't believe I'm actually seeing the-" She trailed off and frowned.  
                Hope looked to Kelley and then to the house. She finally saw what the defender saw. On the house and in its yard were a few less than favorable - to Kelley and quite a few others, it seemed - political signs judging the Obama administration.  
                "Well that's disappointing," Kelley muttered. Her hand, gripping her phone tightly which she had brought out in her excitement to photograph, fell limply to her side. Her shoulders sagged as well.  
                Hope's chest clenched a little, seeing Kelley so obviously heartbroken about this made her sigh. She put an arm over Kelley's shoulders and pulled her close.  
                "People are allowed to have their wrong opinions, y'know." Hope murmured with a small smile. Kelley let out a small chuckle. "C'mon. Don't let a few stupid political signs ruin this for you," Hope grabbed Kelley's cell phone with one hand and tugged her the rest of the way to the house with the other. She positioned Kelley in a certain spot, took a few steps backwards and tapped a few buttons on Kelley's phone.  
                "All right KO. Let's see your Truffle Shuffle!" Hope grinned and held up the phone, aiming its camera to the shorter woman. Kelley tried to keep a straight face but instead just yelled at the camera.  
                "C'monnn!"  
                "Do it!"  
                "C'monnn!" Kelley yelled again, pleased that Hope at least knew the lines from the movie. She could make an exception for the Goonies House Blasphemy.  
                "Do it!" Hope demanded in a stern voice. Kelley did her best to keep a straight face, while Hope was full-on grinning. Kelley sighed dramatically and stomped a few steps and turned around to the camera. She glanced around and seeing that the coast was clear, she lifted her shirt to her sternum, pulled a face and truffle shuffled like a pro. Within seconds the two women were laughing and Hope was trying to keep the phone steady. Finally she gave up and let go of the record button, doubling over in laughter. Kelley stumbled forward into Hope and wrapped her arms around Hope's waist, her tears racing down her face. Hope wrapped an arm around Kelley's shoulder and laughed into the defender's neck.  
                They finally calmed down and Kelley reached for her phone. Hope held it away and instead, maneuvered the two of them into position so that she could take a photo of them with the house in the background. She winked at Kelley when the photo was done. "There's nothing more touristy than that," Hope said and handed Kelley the phone.  
                Kelley smiled and set to work, tapping furiously on her phone. The two began walking to the car, Kelley stumbling only twice because uploading her video to Instagram was far more important than watching where she was going. Hope grabbed her by the elbow and easily guided her around a giant pothole in the road. Kelley took no notice of course until they were back at the car.  
                Hope decided she'd take over driving and made a show of having to adjust the seat distance and smirking at Kelley. The younger woman rolled her eyes and told, no, showed Hope what she thought about her theatrics with her very own one-fingered performance aimed at Hope. Hope swatted at the middle finger and let Kelley set the GPS to Cannon Beach. They drove with little to no conversation, apart from the few observations Hope would make about whatever "talentless hipster band" and their "noises that could possibly resemble a good song in a different dimension."  
                "All right, grandma," Kelley said, ignoring Hope's glare. "Find us a parking spot and let's get our beach on!"  
Hope maneuvered the Jeep into a parking lot and two gathered their jackets, and walked a few blocks to the beach. Kelley scoped the horizon and grinned, seeing  the famous Haystack Rock a mile down the shoreline. She glanced to Hope, her smile infectious.  
                The two took their time walking down the shore, letting the cold Pacific water freeze their now-bare feet. Eventually, they made their way to the rock, grateful that it was a low tide and access to the rock was an easy matter altogether. The next hour was spent splashing around and looking at the different critters in the intertidal area. Kelley was taking a few steps backward while Hope was aiming her camera phone at the defender because Kelley just HAD to Instagram this moment. Just as the keeper was snapping the photo, Kelley had a misstep and fell, ass first into what turned out to be a small dip in the ground.  
                Hope did her best not to laugh. That, of course, lasted for all of five seconds before she doubled over in laughter. Kelley pouted and crossed her arms. Whether she stood up or not, she was soaked through and through.  
                "Shut up, Solo!"  
                Hope grinned and glanced around to a few others who were quietly chuckling to each other. Clearly they had seen Kelley's less-than graceful ass-plant into the sea. She aimed her phone's camera at Kelley  who in turn, continued to pout and lifted two hands, thumbs down, toward the camera. Hope stuffed the phone into her own pocket and ambled over to Kelley. "You done swimming?"  
                Kelley merely held her two hands toward Hope and wiggled her fingers.  
                "No way," Hope said and took a step back.  
                "C'mon! I'm feeble! I need help up!"  
                "Bullshit."  
                Kelley pouted once more, her freckles shifting around her mouth.  
                "You get me or my phone wet and I will end you," Hope warned.  
                Kelley chuckled and held her hands to Hope once more. "I promise. No funny business. I think my butt is suction cupped into this sand."  
                Hope chuckled and with some tugging, because somehow Kelley's butt was in fact, rooted into the quick-sand-like-ground, was able to pull Kelley to her feet. The wind began to pick up and with a shiver Kelley decided that she had enough time at the beach and needed A) a change of clothes and B) food. And not necessarily in that order.  
                They had trudged half a mile down the beach to a set of stairs that would lead them away from the sand and to their rental car when Hope noticed Kelley was lagging behind. She stopped and turned to the defender, ready to fire a smart-ass remark about being so slow when she saw the shorter woman was shivering and huddled into herself. Kelley looked up from the sand to Hope and smiled, completely oblivious to how she must have looked.  
                Hope let out a small smile in return and moved toward Kelley. She gently eased Kelley's arms apart from their folded position and pulled off the mostly-soaked hoodie. Hope tossed the jacket to the ground and quickly pulled her own hoodie off and slipped it over Kelley's head. She tugged the hood over the defender's ponytail. Kelley's hands were somewhere in the long sleeves but she seemed more than happy to be in something warm even if it was a size or two too big.  
                The wind raised goose bumps on Hope's arms almost instantly but it was nothing, she figured, to how cold Kelley must have been feeling. Hope picked up the wet hoodie and slung it over her left arm while she pulled Kelley in close to her side with her right.  
                Kelley wordlessly tucked herself in close to Hope's side and the two made their way back to the Jeep. Once they arrived Hope unlocked the back where their bags were and Kelley wasted no time in grabbing dry clothes from her bag and hopped into the back seat. Hope kept watch from the opened tailgate.  
                "Do you want to eat here or somewhere else?" Hope asked over her shoulder. She swiped at some sand that still clung to her jeans.  
                "Here. I'm about to die of starvation," Kelley replied. Hope nodded and glanced around the street. All along the small road shops and restaurants waited for any visitor. On a cold day in the off season, it was a surprise any of them were open at all.  Kelley rejoined Hope at the back of the car and, Hope realized, Kelley was once again wearing Hope's University of Washington hoodie.  
                "Nice sweater," Hope commented dryly and fished out another jacket to wear instead.  
                Kelley threw up a "W" sign with her hands, as she had seen Hope and other UDub graduates and students do.  
                "You're such a nerd, Stanford."  
                "Huskies for life, yo."  
                Hope rolled her eyes and closed the hatch of the Jeep. "I'll take Huskies over what, Cardinals? - any day."  
                "Cardinal," Kelley corrected. "Singular."  
                "What?"  
                "We're not birds. We're... a tree," she finished, somewhat lamely.  
                Hope stopped short and looked to Kelley. "Stanford is a tree?"  
                "A big tree!"           
                Hope laughed and continued on down the sidewalk and paused occasionally to glance over menus that were posted on the outside of the restaurants.  
                "How does one of the best schools in the nation have such a ridiculous mascot?"  
                "There's been a lot of controversy over it. I think it's come to the point that people mostly refer to cardinal moreso for the color than the tree."  
                Hope shook her head. "Well, until your alma mater decides to not be so lame, you can be an honorary Husky."  
                "If this hoodie wasn't so comfy I'd take offense to that. I'd even throw it out to sea," Kelley sniffed. She tugged Hope into a restaurant and the two were immediately greeted by a hostess who showed them to a small table by a window overlooking the ocean.  
                They ordered and ate in relative silence until they both decided to whip out their phones and re-examine the day's adventures. Hope had managed to photograph Kelley just as she was falling back into the water, as well as the upset aftermath.  
                "You're such a jerk for laughing!" Kelley moaned. "My butt is still cold."  
                Hope grinned and sipped her coffee.  "To think, this is only day one."  
                Kelley smiled back over her own mug of hot chocolate. It did wonders to warm her up.  
                Hope glanced at her phone. It was almost eight. "Do we hit the road or stay here?"  
                Kelley shrugged and pulled out her phone. "How tired are you?"  
                "Not very," Hope answered and glanced around for their server.  
                "Well. Let's hit the 101 and head south. See what happens?" Kelley asked, as she scrolled around the map on her phone.  
                "Sure," Hope replied and watched the server walk up. "Can I get another coffee in a to-go cup?"  
                "You're going to be up all night," Kelley interjected. "Try the hot chocolate. It's way good," she smiled at the elderly woman. "Can I get one in a to-go cup please?"  
                "Of course, dear." The woman replied. She turned to hope, "What'll it be doll? Coffee or hot chocolate?"  
                Hope sighed. Maybe tomorrow Kelley would be wrong about something. "Hot chocolate, please."  
  
                Hope was behind the wheel and with some direction from Kelley, the two were on their way south. Within half an hour they were driving along the coast at a leisurely pace. The sun had begun to set and Hope couldn't stop herself from occasionally looking to her right to look at it. That in turn, let her gaze fall upon Kelley who was sitting cross-legged in her seat.  
                The younger woman had taken to becoming a radio DJ. Right now, she was in the middle of explaining where some band Hope had never heard of was from and their sound. "Next up, we have relative newcomers Lucius from Brooklyn, New York with _Two of Us On the Run._ Another great band with some mellow lullabies for that evening drive. Thanks for listening to Kelley's Coastal Cruise Show.  We'll be back shortly." She tapped the play button on her phone and let the Jeep's Bluetooth system take over.  
                Hope rolled her eyes but a smile tugged at her lips. The quiet music filled the cabin and Hope glanced once more to Kelley. The smaller woman caught Hope's gaze and smiled. The sun in the distance only seemed to light Kelley's hair on fire all the while bringing out her freckles that much more.  
                Kelley, never one to mind people's personal space, let her hand fall onto Hope's which was currently resting on the armrest between them. "I'm glad we're doing this," she started. Hope felt her stomach lurch at Kelley's touch. They had hugged and held hands and goofed around before. So why this time did Kelley's touch feel like small droplets of fire?  
                "What," Hope swallowed and went for a lighter tone, "Hosting pretend radio shows?"  
                Kelley squeezed Hope's forearm again. "Among other things, yes. We didn't see each other much this past year. I missed my number one."  
                Hope couldn't begin to try and downplay Kelley's outright honesty. It was her honestly and her ability to get Hope talking about things she flat out refused to talk about - even refused to talk to Carli about - that drew Hope to her, against her better judgment. Looking back, it wasn't her better judgment at all.  
                She upturned her own hand and Kelley's slid down into it automatically. Their fingers clasped together easily. Hope squeezed the smaller, freckled hand.  
                "Me too, KO." The smile she was rewarded with was bright enough to rival the sun's glow on the ocean.


End file.
